Jul 25, 2011

Online groups start up Fridge said Thursday it has been bought by Google and will become part of the Internet giant's freshly-launched social network.

New York City-based Fridge is closing and its small staff will become part of the Google+ team, the startup said in a post at its website.

"We look forward to continuing the vision of creating fresh and exciting social group experiences for users across the Web," the Fridge message read.

"We strongly believe in the group social experience and couldn't think of a better place to realize our vision of bringing the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to the web as part of the Google+ Project."

More than 20,000 groups had reportedly been formed at Fridge for sharing pictures, opinions, videos and more. The website boasted more than 40,000 users monthly.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Google+, a rival to Facebook, launched on June 28 and has been a hit despite the fact that membership is invitation-only while the service remains in a test phase.

Google chief Larry Page said last week that the Google+ social network already has more than 10 million members.

The service allows users to separate online friends and family into different "Circles," or networks, and to share information only with members of a particular circle.